After more than 10 years of planning, parts of a former nuclear submarine arrived in Cincinnati Saturday.

The USS Cincinnati was launched by the U.S. Navy in 1977. It was part of the Cold War’s North Atlantic missions in the late 1970s. In the 1980s, it was stationed in the Mediterranean Sea and Arctic Ocean.

"It was the outstanding performance of the officers and men of Cincinnati, and the others like them throughout the armed forces, who are responsible in large measure for the end of the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent changes all across Eastern Europe," retired Navy Capt. Robert Hawthorne said.

The USS Cincinnati was decommissioned and dismantled, leaving only the upper rudder, sail and other parts. Those parts were shipped from Seattle to their new home in Cincinnati.

It was a homecoming of sorts when the pieces arrived. Dozens of men who had served on the USS Cincinnati were on hand with their families to show them a piece of history.

"Our time on Cincinnati was filled with enough excitement and amusement for several lifetimes," Hawthorne said.

Naval veterans commented that the USS Cincinnati was the only submarine in the Navy with a red engine. The engine was called The Big Red Machine, after the nickname given to the Cincinnati Reds in the 1970s.

"We painted that engine red and it stayed red for the rest of the life of the ship. It was The Big Red Machine," Hawthorne recalled.

At one time, the submarine commander had hundreds of Cincinnati Reds baseball hats donated to the crew as part of the unofficial uniform.

The USS Cincinnati weighed 6,000 tons and was the length of a football field.

The submarine will be temporarily moved to a warehouse where it will be refurbished. Eventually, the city has plans to reassemble the parts and create a Cold War Memorial along the banks of the Ohio River.